I grit my teeth. “Answer the question.”
“What changed is that I don’t want to die. I get the sense that your husband wants me dead and this is the only way to keep myself alive. So, I’ll put my pride aside and work for him as long as I get paid.”
“Fine. Why else did you come here?”
He scratches his chin, looking around the room. “See, the thing is, Irina… Nikolai is paying me but it’s only going towards my debt. But I need actual money to live. So I was wondering if you could help your father out. Give me some cash. Just to hold me over until my debts are paid off.”
I cross my arms, even though it’s not going to protect me from him. “I think this is something you should talk about with my husband. Not me.”
“But you’re my daughter. Don’t you feel some sort of loyalty to your father? Just give me some cash and then I’ll be on your way.”
I want to say no with everything inside of me but I also want my dad to leave and giving him money might be the best way. But what does that say of me that I would give money to the man who tried to sell me off?
If I want to grow into a mature woman, I have to stand my ground with my dad. I have to be better than him.
“No,” I answer. “You should go. I’m not giving you money. Now, if you had come here to apologize, then maybe I would have considered. But you’ve never apologize for hurting me.”
He frowns. “Apologize? For what?”
I blink, unsure if I heard him right, but when I see my father staring at me with confusion, like he doesn’t even remember what he did wrong, a hot intense flare of anger hits me.
“For selling me off,” I remind him.
“Oh. That. I was just doing what any father would do to get himself out of a tough situation. You’re my daughter. I owned you. It was my right. I did nothing wrong.”
“How can you actually say that to me?” I can only whisper. For some reason, the words are getting caught in my throat.
“Like I said: you’re my daughter. My property. It wasn’t personal, Irina. If I had had another kid, I would have used them too.”
“You actually think coming here and asking me for money after you refuse to apologize to me would work? How delusional are you?” It’s then that it dawns on me: my father isn’t delusional. He’s just a powerful man, used to getting his way. He truly doesn’t see what he did wrong.
But now that I know what a good powerful man looks like in Nikolai, I know just how wrong my father is. Nikolai may have a darkness to him but he’s never used it against me. Not truly. He’s shown through his actions that I can trust him.
My father, on the other hand, has shown me that he’ll never change. That I’ll never be able to trust an ounce of him.
“I am your father. You were my property before Nikolai stole you from me. You should be grateful I haven’t tried to sell you off again. I could take you away from your precious husband right this second.”
“His guard is out front.”
He shrugs. “Easy enough to kill. If you don’t give me the money I deserve, I’ll just have to take drastic action.”
“Then Nik would kill you.”
“Not if I kill him first.”
“Get out!” I scream, finally finding my voice.
But my father only saunters over to me, completely ignoring my wants and wishes. He doesn’t view me as a person. It’s why he kept me sheltered all my life. He wanted to use me the first chance he could and if I had had experience, I would have known better. I would have known I could never trust him.
He grabs my face. “I still own you, Irina. Now, give me the money owed to me and I’ll be on my way. This doesn’t have to end badly.”
“Get out.”
He only tightens his hold on me. “I’ll only go after you give me the money.”
“I said, get out!” I try pushing him off me but he’s not budging. Feeling helpless, I do the first thing that comes to my mind. Behind me is the side table and resting on it is a vase. My hands scramble for it and the next thing I know, it’s in my hands.
And the next thing I know after that is that I’m hitting it against my father’s head.